Therefore, this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: “See, I will melt them down in a crucible and test them like metal. What else can I do with my people?
Parallel translations
- WEB Therefore Yahweh of Armies says, “Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how should I deal with the daughter of my people?
- KJV Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my people?
- BSB Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Behold, I will refine them and test them, for what else can I do because of the daughter of My people?
- NKJV Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: “Behold, I will refine them and try them; For how shall I deal with the daughter of My people?
- NASB Therefore this is what the Lord of armies says: “Behold, I will refine them and put them to the test; For what else can I do, because of the daughter of My people?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Yahweh of Armies will refine His people by judgment, asking how else He can deal with their sin. Affliction comes as a purifying necessity.
Overview
God speaks of melting and testing His people like metal in a furnace, a refining image for purifying judgment. His rhetorical question shows that, given their entrenched sin, He has no gentler recourse. The verse reveals that God's judgments can serve a purifying purpose, a theme deepened in the gospel where God refines and sanctifies His people for Himself.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Isa 1:25and I will turn my hand on you, thoroughly purge away your dross, and will take away all your tin.
- Jer 6:27“I have made you a tester of metals and a fortress among my people; that you may know and try their way.
- Isa 48:10Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver. I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.
- Mal 3:3and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer to Yahweh offerings in righteousness.
- Zech 13:9I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will test them like gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say, ‘It is my people;’ and they will say, ‘Yahweh is my God.’”
- Hos 11:8–9“How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within me, my compassion is aroused.
- 1 Pet 4:12Beloved, don’t be astonished at the fiery trial which has come upon you, to test you, as though a strange thing happened to you.
- 1 Pet 1:7that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ —
- Jer 6:29–30The bellows blow fiercely; the lead is consumed of the fire: in vain do they go on refining; for the wicked are not plucked away.
- Ezek 22:18–22“Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to me. All of them are brass, tin, iron, and lead in the middle of the furnace. They are the dross of silver.
- Jer 31:20Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a darling child? for as often as I speak against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him,” says Yahweh.
- 2 Chr 36:15Yahweh, the God of their fathers, sent to them by his messengers, rising up early and sending, because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place;
- Hos 6:4–5“Ephraim, what shall I do to you? Judah, what shall I do to you? For your love is like a morning cloud, and like the dew that disappears early.
- Ezek 26:11–12With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all your streets; he shall kill your people with the sword; and the pillars of your strength shall go down to the ground.
- Zech 1:14–16So the angel who talked with me said to me, “Proclaim, saying, ‘Yahweh of Armies says: “I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.
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Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 9:7 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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